I love the Science Park – it’s such a calm and pleasant place. Even now, whenever I visit, it truly feels like coming home.

I felt like I had a lot of freedom in choosing courses and projects. If you wanted to take courses or do an internship at another university, that was entirely possible. For example, I was ill for a month during my studies, and it was easy to rearrange my schedule. When I started my first internship, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and I was able to pause that project, complete a literature-based internship first, and later return to the original project.

I’d say you can decide that for yourself. The coursework lasts just half a year, and you can select courses with a strong practical component or ones that are more theoretical. For internships, you can choose projects where you spend nearly every day in the lab or ones that focus more on data processing and theoretical work.

The atmosphere was great. Everyone was approachable, and it never felt like the lecturers were distant or superior—they were genuinely there to help you. 
I especially enjoyed the first course, Current Trends in Ecology & Evolution, which was mandatory. It brought together everyone from the master’s track, and we even went on a week-long retreat as part of the course. Many friendships were formed during that week. Without this course, my master’s experience would have been very different, especially since much of the programme later moved online. This retreat made it much easier to connect with fellow students right from the start. 
During the coursework, the focus was more on group assignments, whereas the internships were more focused on individual work. I felt this was a good balance.

Thanks to the collaboration with the VU, there are many internship opportunities available. You can also explore options outside of this collaboration or even go abroad if you want to. 
There are many different research groups at the university, offering a wide variety of projects. 
For my first internship, I worked with Astrid Groot’s group on pupae of nocturnal moths in relation to fungi and bacteria. For my second internship, I worked with Arne Janssen’s group, studying the population dynamics of mites and predatory mites. For my literature internship, I worked with Kees van Gestel at the VU, focusing on ecotoxicology. 

Finding a job after my master’s was a bit of a challenge, especially because I chose not to pursue a PhD. While many master’s programmes, including this one, are strongly geared towards preparing students for a PhD, I think there’s room for more guidance for those who want to take a different path. That said, my internships played a key role in helping me secure my job and gave me the experience I needed to stand out. 
I found my current role thanks to my literature internship with Kees van Gestel at the VU. After the internship, I followed him on LinkedIn and later saw a post where he mentioned they were looking for an analyst for a project. That connection proved to be the perfect opportunity, and I’m happy with where it led me.

Choose internships that genuinely interest you and that align with topics you might want to pursue later. Your internships will provide valuable experience to mention during job interviews. However, try not to do multiple internships on the same topic or within the same group. It’s more beneficial to use your internships to gain a wide range of knowledge and experience across different areas. 
Additionally, working with different groups allows you to meet more people, which can help you secure opportunities later on—just as it did for me. Connections really do matter! 😊